Impact Assessment System Research Articles

Evaluating environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the countries along the belt and road initiatives: System effectiveness and the compatibility with the Chinese EIA

BRI has a great potential to improve necessary infrastructure, regional development, connectivity, and industrialization, and promote the sustainable transformation of the countries along the routes. Despite the remarkable aims, economic growth ambition of BRI may clash with the sustainability of the ecosystem given the scales of operations in environmentally sensitive regions, and the amount of material and energy needed. Therefore, the sustainable potential and environmental stewardship of the BRI will largely depend on the standard of strategic environmental and social management, and integration between China and partner countries of respective priorities, policies, and regulations. The effectiveness and compatibility of environmental impact assessment systems (EIA) remain largely unknown, especially across the diverse ecological, social, economic and political contexts represented in countries along the BRI. We review and compare EIA systems on the contextual factors that moderate the effectiveness and compatibility with China's policy. This work helps to identify strategies to more efficiently and effectively implement BRI towards sustainable development.

Environmental Risk Researches as a Key Element of the Environmental Impact Assessment

Purpose. Describe the categories of environmental risk, the degree of their impact on the environment. Results. The place of ecological risk in the system of environmental impact assessment is substantiated. Modern methodology for environmental risk assessment involves a parallel consideration of risks to human health and environmental risks caused by disturbance of ecosystems and adverse effects on environmental components, risks of deteriorating quality and deteriorating living conditions. The reasons for the risk are unplanned events in the environment that may adversely affect the company, the progress of its plans. These include both predictable and unpredictable events. Risk factors are the conditions under which risk causes may arise. Among them are: political, scientific and technical, socio-economic, environmental and more. Conclusions. In the strategic perspective, it is necessary to improve the national environmental policy and create a national system of environmental safety and an effective system of environmental monitoring as a universal tool for its implementation. One of the tasks of this system is effective environmental risk management.

Study of Positive Assessments Made under the Current Local Government Environmental Impact Assessment System

Study of Positive Assessments Made under the Current Local Government Environmental Impact Assessment System

Study on Ecological Compensation Mechanism of Railway Construction Projects

Important ecologically sensitive areas are extremely important to maintain regional ecological security. For railway construction projects that cross important ecologically sensitive areas, it is particularly necessary to implement ecological compensation in order to minimize the impact on important ecologically sensitive areas. This article introduces the ecological service function value loss accounting and ecological value loss accounting methods from the perspective of value, and puts forward the system introduction method, technology introduction method and compensation method introduction method of ecological compensation, combining the environmental impact assessment system and ecological compensation mechanism in order to improve the feasibility and operability of ecological compensation.

An Analysis of Operational Status of and Development Direction for Disaster Impact Assessment

In 1996, Korea introduced a Disaster Impact Assessment (DIA) system, and has implemented it since, to reduce the effects of disasters on development activities in advance. There have been many changes in the operation of the DIA system, including integration with other impact assessments, and the system was reorganized under the recently revised Act (Oct., 2018). In order for the DIA system to be developed as an impact assessment representing our country in the future, it is necessary to analyze the operational status of the past and establish a long-term development plan. In this paper, the direction for policy development of the DIA system is proposed as follows, according to the analysis results of the operation status. First, the scope of consultation on the DIA should be selected based on the disaster risks such as the characteristics of the project and the status of local disasters. Second, when the implementation, consultation, and approval of a project are managed by the same local government, it is necessary to upgrade the authority of consultation delegated to the Si·Do and Si·Gun·Gu. Third, an institutional readjustment for mediating opinions from consultation is needed. Fourth, it is necessary to prepare a post-management system for facilities reducing impact of disaster after completion. Fifth, it is necessary to change the calculation criteria and ordering method so that appropriate contracts can be made for the preparation of the DIA report. Keywords: Disaster Impact Assessment, Selection of Consultation Scope, Upgrading of Consultation Authority, Mediation of Deliberation Opinion, Post-management System

복합리조트 영향평가 제도마련을 위한 연구 : 영종도 복합리조트를 중심으로

복합리조트 영향평가 제도마련을 위한 연구 : 영종도 복합리조트를 중심으로

Improvement of Environmental Impact Assessment System for Estimating Damage on Terrestrial Ecosystem by Chemical Accidents

Improvement of Environmental Impact Assessment System for Estimating Damage on Terrestrial Ecosystem by Chemical Accidents

Aportes y desafíos del Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental (SEIA) a la conservación de la biodiversidad en Chile

Los Sistemas de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental son instrumentos de gestión ambiental de carácter preventivo, cuyo principal objetivo es incorporar consideraciones ambientales en los procesos y actividades que acompañan el crecimiento económico de un país. Su influencia en la conservación de la biodiversidad es fundamental, ya que, dentro del proceso de evaluación, permiten identificar y evaluar impactos ambientales potenciales asociados a estas actividades, y definir reparaciones, compensaciones, o mitigaciones. Detener la pérdida de biodiversidad, provocada por actividades humanas y el cambio climático, es un objetivo de carácter mundial. Chile no está ajeno a este desafío, considerando su condición de Hotspot de biodiversidad, las proyecciones asociadas al cambio climático que afectarán el territorio, y los pendientes que el Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental (SEIA) presenta respecto de conservación de la biodiversidad desde una mirada más estratégica al considerar cuestiones como el alcance territorial de los impactos ambientales generados por los proyectos, bajo una mirada sistémica y transversal con otras materias. Al respecto, la investigación presenta un análisis de las principales modificaciones experimentadas desde de su creación, comparándolo con otros sistemas de evaluación en Latinoamérica; junto a estadísticas nacionales del comportamiento de los proyectos de inversión que afectan potencialmente la conservación de la biodiversidad. Se abordan dos cuestionamientos que guían la discusión de funcionamiento y cambios que debiese impulsar el Estado chileno: 1) influencia sobre titulares de proyectos para que internalicen la importancia de proteger la biodiversidad más allá de lo normativo, y; 2) introducción de otras mejoras en la ley ambiental que podrían propiciar de manera indirecta mejoras en el SEIA. Finalmente, se concluye sobre la importancia de potenciar la Evaluación Ambiental Estratégica (EAE) y su integración con el SEIA, impulsando una mejora en los diseños de proyectos mediante la incorporación de la sustentabilidad desde su formulación.

Energy-water nexus in electricity trade network: A case study of interprovincial electricity trade in China

The large amount of electricity generation is exerting tremendous pressure on water resources. Moreover, the spatial mismatch between water and electricity demand is aggravating national water scarcity through virtual water transfers in electricity trade. To investigate the impact of electricity trade on water resource and further provide insights into the optimization of national electricity trade pattern from virtual water strategy perspective, the impact evaluation model for interprovincial electricity trade network by evaluating and quantifying the “positivity” or “negativity” of electricity trade is constructed. The interprovincial virtual water transfer network is constructed, and the hybrid virtual water content is proposed to represent provincial water consumption factor per unit electricity generation. An impact assessment system is proposed and impact evaluation indicator is defined to identify and evaluate the “positivity” or “negativity” of each electricity trade. The results show that total volume of virtual water transfer embodied in Chinese electricity trade in 2015 is 5638.4 million m3, in which the negative virtual water transfer is 1410.5 million m3, which comprises 25.0% of the total volume of virtual water transferred. The most positive trade pair is “Sichuan-to-Shanghai”, while the most negative trade pair is “Sichuan-to-Chongqing”. By assessing the “positivity” or “negativity” of electricity trade, this study identifies critical trade pairs that mitigate or aggravate water scarcity risk, and provide insights into improvement and optimization of national electricity trade pattern.

회원가입 약관 정보 자동 수집을 통한 웹기반 개인정보보호 영향도 평가 시스템

회원가입 약관 정보 자동 수집을 통한 웹기반 개인정보보호 영향도 평가 시스템

Evolution or revolution? Reflecting on IA effectiveness in Thailand

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates whether the Thai impact assessment (IA) system should develop through revolution or evolution. A timeline of the Thai IA system is mapped to show its development to date. Aspects of effectiveness (i.e. procedural, substantive, transactive, and legitimacy) are then used as the benchmark against which to evaluate past IA practice in terms of strengths, limitations and challenges. IA practice is analysed both in terms of the people within the IA system and the IA system itself, as both are considered key elements in making IA work. The findings suggest that the ongoing evolution of the IA system has continued to improve its procedural, substantive and transactive effectiveness; therefore, suggesting that continuing evolution is sufficient to deliver these dimensions of effectiveness. However, the findings also indicate that it is the people in the IA system that influence practice and arbitrate legitimacy. Developing the system over time has not significantly improved legitimacy, leading to the conclusion that gaining legitimacy in the IA process might need some elements of revolution.

Research on comprehensive environmental impact assessment of shale gas development

PurposeIn recent years, to solve the contradiction between energy supply and demand, the Chinese Government has vigorously promoted shale gas development. With the rapid development of the shale gas industry, the environmental impact problems have become increasingly serious. Therefore, it is of great significance to carry out a comprehensive environmental impact assessment of shale gas development. This study aims to provide a theoretical basis for enterprises to make development decisions on shale gas projects by constructing a model of comprehensive environmental impact assessment for shale gas development.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the comprehensive environmental impact factors of shale gas development are analyzed from the two aspects of the natural environment and macro environment, and the index system of comprehensive environmental impact assessment for shale gas development including 7 secondary indicators and 24 tertiary indicators is constructed. Owing to the fact that qualitative indicators are difficult to quantify in the evaluation process, the method of intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IFAHP) is adopted for evaluation. This method (IFAHP) can delicately describe the hesitancy degree of the decision-makers in the process of assigning a weight to the indicators, and make the weight assignment of each index more accurate. Furthermore, this method overcomes the shortcomings of the conventional methods, such as the complexity of calculation and the large amount of calculation.FindingsThe evaluation model is applied to a shale gas platform drilling project in Southwest China. Based on the ratings from 13 experts, the comprehensive environmental impact assessment grade of this project is good, indicating that the shale gas development project is feasible. The result is basically in line with the actual situation.Originality/valueBased on the consideration of the natural environmental impacts of shale gas development, this paper also has considered the macro environmental impact of shale gas development, and has established the index system of comprehensive environmental impact assessment for shale gas development from the two aspects of the natural environment and macro environment. To overcome such difficulties as incomplete evaluation by decision-makers, cumbersome calculation process and a large amount of calculation, this paper has adopted the method of IFAHP to evaluate and has established a comprehensive environmental impact assessment model for shale gas development based on IFAHP.

Sustaining Ghana’s cocoa sector through environmentally smart agricultural practices: an assessment of the environmental impacts of cocoa production in Ghana

ABSTRACTThe sustainability of the cocoa industry in the developing world depends heavily on the preservation of the natural environment. There is, therefore, an urgent need for more research, policies and strategies that will help address and minimize the environmental impacts of cocoa production. This study was conducted using both secondary and primary data sources. The secondary data were collected from documentary sources such as reports from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Cocoa Pests and Diseases Control Programme (CODAPEC). On the other hand, the primary data involved an interview of 15 field officers of the Ghana Cocoa Board. These field officers were purposively selected to help ascertain some of the effects of cocoa production on the environment. The study showed that the environmental impact of cocoa production manifest in the clearance of virgin forests for the expansion of cocoa farms (clearance of 117,240 hectares of forest resources between 2010 and 2015), the clearance of forest for the construction of feeder roads (3000 kilometres of new feeder roads constructed to link cocoa farms to the various marketing outlets) and pollution from the use of pesticides and insecticides. In order to address this problem, there is the need for effective and efficient environmental impact assessment system for large scale agricultural production and the construction of feeder roads to farms. Adequate measures should be put in place by the relevant regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that the mitigation measures proposed in the environmental assessment process are implemented to minimize the environmental footprint of cocoa production.

Does the Current State of Environmental Impact Assessment in Armenia Pose a Challenge for the Future?

Many post-Soviet countries are still improving their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) systems, and Armenia is no exception. In recent years, approximation to and harmonisation with the laws of the European Union has seen Armenia increasingly adopt and apply EU regulations and directives, and this process was supported by adoption of the new law on EIA and Expertise in 2014. The main objectives of this study are to review and analyse the current state of the Armenian EIA system and to assess its legal framework. We applied a method divided into two parts: review and analysis of the legislative aspects of the EIA system in Armenia and the circulation of a survey-questionnaire to EIA experts to establish current practices. The findings of this research provided positive and negative factors which can both be used to improve the assessment system in Armenia. While the most significant EIA strength combines the existence of a systematic law and public involvement in this process, the law has weaknesses in its monitoring, informative and quality control provisions. Moreover, public participation has many weaknesses in practice, including the definition of stakeholders and the lack of guidelines and manuals which challenges expert action. Finally, this paper has explored the major positives and negatives of the Armenian EIA system in practice, and we consider that this should help other Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries define and combat the challenges of their EIA systems.

Regulatory Measurements in Policy Coordinated Practices: The Case of Promoting Renewable Energy and Cleaner Transport in Sweden

International organisations, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU), are seeking to implement a cohesive Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) system in order to achieve better regulation and increased unity and transparency. Central to these evaluations is the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and related tools. A comprehensive analysis of the use of impact assessment in the EU shows that many assessments lack important economic components. This paper draws on an extensive document study of the Swedish policy making process related to the EU Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. The aim of the paper is to examine how CBA is presented, negotiated and accounted for by central actors within a policy setting influenced by negotiation and policy coordination. The paper departs from a theoretical perspective on policy coordination and shows how this factor must be considered when explaining the low use of CBA. It concludes that the Swedish policy tradition, wherein the national government relies on consensus-based coordination between agencies, might counteract a more explicit assessment of different policy options. The paper also proposes a model that can be used for further studies on CBA and policy coordination.

Enhancing EIA systems in developing countries: A focus on capacity development in the case of Iran

Sensitivity to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system's context is a precondition for being able to suggest recommendation to improving that system. Most recommendations for developing countries take inspiration from developed countries and fall short in their efforts to adapt to the needs of a specific country. In this paper, the authors aim to assess the feasibility of implementing suggested recommendations to enhance Iran's EIA effectiveness. One of the main drawbacks of the Iranian EIA system is deficiency of EIA legislation. However, based on the findings of a review of the literature and semi-structured interviews, it is suggested that by considering contextual factors it is not feasible to overhaul Iran's EIA legislative framework in the short term. Instead, the focus must shift towards increasing environmental awareness and human-capacity development so as to improve the EIA system over time and strengthen EIA legislation.

A PROPOSAL TO ENHANCE THE CREDIBILITY OF SUPREME MONITORING AUTHORITIES OF ORGANIZATIONS ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE

A PROPOSAL TO ENHANCE THE CREDIBILITY OF SUPREME MONITORING AUTHORITIES OF ORGANIZATIONS ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE

Toward a New Metrics for the Evaluation of the Social Added Value of Social Enterprises

There is a widespread dissatisfaction among nonprofit leaders and managers, private funders and public decision-makers concerning the current systems of social impact assessment of nonprofit organizations/social enterprises (NPO/SE).The systems of performance measurement of NPO/SE vary greatly in relationship to a series of endogenous and exogenous variables related to different organizational environments: economic, political, social and cultural.The aim of this article is to present an innovative theoretical framework on the basis of which it is possible to define a set of indicators for the evaluation of the social added value produced by NPO/SE.Our hypothesis is that NPO/SE are characterized by their ability to generate different outcome at each of the dimensions of social life: micro, meso and macro. Meaning, a sense of responsibility at the micro level; relational goods at the meso level; and social capital at the macro level.The article illustrates the assessment tool called S.A.V.E. applied, as empirical reference, to three Italian social enterprises operating in the field of health and social services (local welfare systems).

Quantification and evaluation of intra-urban heat-stress variability in Seoul, Korea.

This study quantifies heat-stress hazard (air temperature), vulnerability (heat vulnerability index and age score), and risk (heat-related mortality) on the district scale in Seoul, Korea, for a comprehensive heat-stress impact assessment. Moreover, the heat-stress impact assessment is evaluated by checking the spatial consistency between heat-stress hazard, vulnerability, and risk, which was rarely done before. We applied numerical and geo-empirical models to simulate the spatial pattern of heat-stress hazard. For heat-stress vulnerability, we used demographic and socioeconomic factors. Heat-related mortality was estimated based on an event-based heat-stress risk analysis. Results are that heat-stress hazard, vulnerability, and risk are spatially variable in Seoul. The highest heat-stress hazard was detected in the districts Mapo, Yeongdeungpo, and Yangcheon, the highest vulnerability in Jongno and the highest risk in Jongno and Yangcheon. The different components (heat-stress hazard, vulnerability, and risk) and variables (heat vulnerability index and percentage of seniors) showed different spatial patterns. Knowledge about the causes of higher heat-stress risk, either the hazard or vulnerability, is helpful to design tailored adaptation measures that focus on the reduction of thermal loads or on the preparation of the vulnerable population. The evaluation showed that heat-stress vulnerability and hazard explain the spatial pattern of risk only partly. This highlights the need to evaluate heat-stress impact assessment systems to produce reliable urban heat-stress maps.

The Economic Value of Ozone Layer Destruction in Life Cycle Impact Assessment

The problem of ozone layer destruction (ODP) is becoming more and more serious, which caused great damage to humans and the environment. And in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods, the ozone layer loss environmental problem is considered. Therefore, This paper attempts to clarify the specific economic valuation application of ozone layer destruction in LCIA. We studies the economic valuation of ozone layer destruction in the three methods of Ecotax, Ecovalue08 and BEPAS weight system. Through research and analysis, we propose a new monetary valuation result, which adapts to the LCIA method of China. The research results are: The economic value of ozone layer destruction is $2.15 in the inert construction waste life cycle environmental impact assessment system.